Gamball:
Plymouth - Sheff Wed

Others:
Forest - Man City
Brentford - Villa
Brighton - Fulham
Wolves - Everton
Watford - Millwall
Derby - Blackburn
Swansea - Middlebrough
Spurs - Bournemouth
Man U - Arsenal

Milton Keynes Dons have put former midfielder Ben Gladwin in interim charge of the League Two side following head coach Scott Lindsey's sacking.

Gladwin, 32, was first team coach under Lindsey, and steps up to take the helm a day after the 52-year-old's departure.

Gladwin only retired as a player last summer because of injury problems, and it is already the second time he has taken temporary charge of a side after working as caretaker boss following Lindsey's exit from Crawley earlier this season.

MK Dons have not specified how long Gladwin will be at the helm, but said the interim coaching team "will oversee the side in the coming weeks".

"MK Dons will now conduct an extensive and comprehensive interview process ahead of appointing a head coach to lead the team next season," a statement on the club website said., external

He will be looking to guide MK to a first victory in seven matches and help turn around the disastrous form of recent months, which has seen them win just twice in their past 16 matches.

It is a run that has resulted in a tumble from third in the table to 17th, and which cost Lindsey his job.

Jamie Day, who was part of Lindsey's coaching staff that made the move from Crawley to MK Dons in September, will continue as assistant coach.

Ian Watson, who was part of the coaching team at MK under Mike Williamson before Lindsey's arrival, returns to the Buckinghamshire club to work as a first-team coach as part of the interim set-up.

Carl Laraman follows Lindsey in leaving MK, while goalkeeper coach Steve Hale is staying on.

Accrington 2-1 MKD
Bradford 1-1 Cheltenham
Bromley 2-1 Doncaster
Carlisle 1-2 Walsall
Colchester 1-1 Chesterfield
Crewe 3 -1 Fleetwood
Grimsby 2-0 Tranmere
Morecambe 1-2 Wimbledon
Newport 0-0 Gillingham
Notts C 2-0 Barrow
Port Vale 1-1 Harrogate
Swindon 2-0 Salford

Bit surprised at this

Wigan Athletic have sacked manager Shaun Maloney after Saturday's 2-1 defeat by Reading.

That loss extended a run of just one win in seven games which has left the Latics 15th in League One, only six points above the relegation places.

Maloney, a member of Wigan's FA Cup-winning team in 2013, was in charge for just over two years in a difficult spell for the club which included relegation from the Championship and a points deduction last season.

But this campaign has not gone as hoped, with the club citing "disappointing" home performances in a statement, external announcing the 42-year-old's departure, along with his assistant Max Rogers.

Former Republic of Ireland midfielder Glenn Whelan has been placed in interim charge, assisted by Graham Barrow and Frankie Bunn, for Tuesday's trip to Mansfield Town.

Maloney will always have a special place in Wigan folklore for his part as a player in a famous escape from Premier League relegation in 2012 and, even more memorably, the year after, as the Latics won the FA Cup.

In fact, it was his corner which was headed in by Ben Watson as Wigan beat Manchester City at Wembley.

So it was a sentimental return to the club for the ex-Belgium assistant manager when he arrived in January 2023.

But with the club bottom of the Championship, he could not perform his own great escape act.

However, in a very troubled period for the Latics in which players and staff were not paid on time and the team was deducted three points for that offence, Maloney received credit for how he handled the situation.


The club was taken over that summer by Mike Danson from the previous Bahraini ownership group, but Wigan began their League One campaign with an eight-point deduction.

Nonetheless, Maloney led them to a 12th-placed finish.

But with a clean slate this campaign, things have never really got going. Wigan are the lowest scorers in the division with only 31 goals from their 34 games.

Those problems have been even more pronounced at the Brick Community Stadium with just five wins from 17 games and only 16 goals scored.

And for a team with hopes of pushing for the play-offs, at no stage have they been in the top half all season, leading the Latics board to decide that "it was time for a change".

"It cannot be overlooked that the current League One campaign has clearly not progressed as anticipated," their statement said.

"Home results and performances, in particular, have been below the standard which our supporters expect."

Maloney himself alluded to a lack of consistency all season in his final interview as Wigan boss after the defeat by Reading.

"There has not been much consistency within the squad and team selection," he told BBC Radio Manchester.

"We're definitely in a place where we could compete and beat anyone, but we're still in a place where anyone can beat us if we perform like we did in that first half."


To some football fans, seeing Wigan in 15th in League One may seem as if they are underachieving.

But Shaun Maloney has been on the treadmill ever since he took over.

He came close to keeping them in the Championship after taking over from Kolo Toure when the club's existence was in serious jeopardy.

Last season began with an eight-point deduction before a ball had been kicked but he still guided them to 12th place. Taking off the minus eight, they would have been in touching distance of the play-offs.

There's no doubt this season's disappointing home form and results have brought more scrutiny from some supporters.

But the majority had sympathy with Maloney after losing key players like Charlie Hughes and Thelo Aasgaard to Championship clubs, on top of some bigger earners also departing last summer.

Maloney's success as a Wigan player and the difficult circumstances he's faced in much of his time in charge make this hugely surprising news.

Milton Keynes Dons have sacked head coach Scott Lindsey after Saturday's defeat by Colchester United added to their miserable start to 2025.

The loss was MK's 11th in 16 League Two matches dating back to mid-December.

While they managed two wins in January, MK have picked up just nine points from a possible 48 during that dire sequence, which has seen them slip to 17th in the table.

Lindsey, 52, was in charge for just over five months, having left League One side Crawley Town and dropped a division to take the helm in September.

It was only last season that Lindsey guided Crawley to promotion from the fourth tier, with his side crushing MK Dons 8-1 on aggregate in the play-off semi-finals before a 2-0 win over Crewe Alexandra at Wembley.

And while he led the Buckinghamshire side to third in the table in early December after overseeing six successive wins, their poor form since then has seen MK drop well out of the promotion race.

Lindsey's departure was confirmed in a 56-word statement on the club website,, external which said they "will be making no further comment at this time".

"Everyone at MK Dons would like to sincerely thank Scott for his efforts during his time in Milton Keynes and wish him every success in the future," it added.

Lindsey spoke defiantly after Saturday's 1-0 home defeat by Colchester, a loss which left them 16 points adrift of the play-off spots and 13 points above the relegation places.

"It's really clear to me the players are really fighting and don't deserve that today," Lindsey told BBC Three Counties Radio in his final broadcast interview before his sacking.

"We are really hurting in there at the moment because of the run of form, in terms of results.

"I don't want them to get down about it. Of course we are, it's natural, but we have a big game on Tuesday and we have to dust ourselves down.

"We can't feel sorry for ourselves. We have to stick together, work hard and stay focused. I'm pleased there is a game on Tuesday where we can put it right."

MK now travel to League Two strugglers Accrington Stanley without Lindsey in charge, and no indication who will take control on an interim basis.

2 points for correct result
4 points for correct score
2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score   (correct score on a joker would give you 8 points)
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Badger gives you 2 points

The prize for winning the league is one rep point.

Cup games: In the event of a draw, it's half the points if you've predicted a draw when it gets to 90 mins and the full points if it's still a draw after extra time. Half the points will be awarded for correctly predicting the winner of the match if it goes to penalties. However, if you do predict a draw and it's a match that won't be going to a replay, you can get a possible extra point by stating which of the two teams you think will eventually win.

Random score generator: I will be using the random score generator again for those who miss predicting, so we shouldn't get some people too far behind that after missing a couple of weeks they lose all interest, because I know it's not easy getting on here every week.
To be fair to everybody, this is going to be like, say if three people in one week miss their predictions, the first one in the table will be given all 0-0, the second one down the line will get 1-0 and the third will get 0-1 and so on, like if there's four missing the 4th will get 1-1, then 5th 2-1, 6th 1-2. and if there are so many missing, might as well pack in.
And if you miss two weeks on the trot, I'll stop until you come back on again. Not doing it for half a season like I did t'other year.  


At the end of the season, the winner of group 2 and the bottom of group 1 will swap places in what is commonly known as "promotion" and "relegation". It's something that most football fans will be familiar with, unless you're a fan of Liverpool or Arsenal or one of those other fashionable clubs.

The second placed player in group 2 will then have a play off with the player who finishes second from the bottom in group 1 to decide whether they will be going up, down or staying where they are.

We're going to have two seasons in one though, just to try and make it a bit more interesting and not so long drawn out. The first season will end on the Boxing Day fixtures, with the play offs being on the dates of the Twixtmas fixtures and the NYD fixtures.

The second season will start the following week, which is usually the FA Cup 3rd round, finishing on the last game of the League One season. Then another period of relegation/promotion play off games, taking in such fixtures as the EFL play offs, FA Cup Final, UEFA finals and such like.

Each group will have it's own set of fixtures. Both groups will have the Town games, with scorers to predict as before. Then it will be a split of League One fixtures and bonus matches, hopefully around ten, eleven or twelve games per Matchday.

The random badger is restricted to three goal scorers in any of the fixtures in your group.

Here's how that will appear at the end of the fixture list. All you have to do is fill in the blanks.......


*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

Any of those will score two points if correct. No minus points for getting it wrong.

Postponed matches will only count if the match is re-played before the next Matchday is under way. Abandoned matches will be awarded half the points for the score at the time of abandonment, so 1 point if you have the correct result, 2 points if you have the correct score.

Substitute or scorer in one of the Town games:- These will be only be allowed if you change them before the match involved has kicked off.

Prediction League Archive: https://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=12830



Division One table after Matchday 8:

1. neonfoxinthebox = 144 pts
   
2. jjamez = 125 pts
   
3. Baggiebob(BBB) = 114 pts
   
4. themaclad = 105 pts
   
5. Lord Snooty = 98 pts
   
6. St Charles Owl = 98 pts
   

Saturday 8th March:
Bristol Rovers v Town
Town scorers:
Rovers scorers:

Stockport County v Charlton Athletic (12:30)
Barnsley v Blackpool
Birmingham City v Lincoln City
Stevenage v Mansfield Town
Wigan Athletic v Cambridge United
Wrexham v Rotherham United

Tuesday 11th March:
Crawley Town v Charlton Athletic
Exeter City v Mansfield Town

Bonus matches:
Championship:
Saturday:
Plymouth Argyle v Sheffield Wednesday

Tuesday:
Burnley v West Bromwich Albion
Sunderland v Preston North End

*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

1. ritchiebaby = 158 pts
   
2. Devongone = 135 pts
   
3. theo_luddite = 131 pts
   
4. SHEP_HTAFC = 121 pts
   
5. Amelia Chaffinch = 95 pts
   
6. WakeyTerrier = 85 pts
   

Saturday 8th March:
Bristol Rovers v Town
Town scorers:
Rovers scorers:

Crawley Town v Reading (12:30)
Burton Albion v Bolton Wanderers
Exeter City v Shrewsbury Town
Leyton Orient v Northampton Town
Peterborough United v Wycombe Wanderers

Tuesday 11th March:
Birmingham City v Stevenage
Blackpool v Cambridge United
Bristol Rovers v Bolton Wanderers
Reading v Wrexham

Bonus matches:
Sunday:
Scottish Cup quarter finals:
Celtic v Hibernian (15:00)

Tuesday:
League Two:
Salford City v Chesterfield


*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

Has Naylor been having an affair with Mrs Cook?

Hammered again yesterday despite 65% possession and 18 shots (just 3 on target, a visit to Specsavers indicated?), Naylor not in the starting eleven and remains nailed to the bench. He is a better defender than any of the defenders we are starting IMO, certainly a better defensive midfielder than anyone on our books, and probably better as an attacking central midfielder too.

Truth is we were only consistently any good when Araujo was playing at the back and Naylor was playing in front of him. It will soon be time for the Retained List, so which of these failures are we committed to for another year, and who are we able to ditch? We seem quite smug, but where are we, fifteenth? We effectively wrecked Kane Drummond and dispensed with James Berry and have handed our immediate future to 13 players aged 30+, I don't get it, and it all sounds more like the surreal Peter Cook than Paul Cook ......

We scored five at the Choccy Weetaflakes Stadium or whatever it is called (to attract the kids back after the abuse? Hush my mouth, I can't possibly have written that!) and they bang three past us at our own stupidly branded home!

These Championships take place in Stevenston, Scotland from Saturday 1 March to Saturday 8 March. There will be the usual Round-Robin where everybody plays everybody else. The Top Two will go straight to the Semi-finals with the other four teams playing off on the morning of Friday 7 March to decide the other two Semi-finalists. The Semi-finals will be on Friday evening and the Finals will be on Saturday 8 March.

England will be represented by their Qualifying team from November - Stewart Pimblett, Jason Kean, Julian Mattison and Karen Aspey with Jean Guild being promoted to Alternate at the expense of George Potts. They start tomorrow against Latvia at 14.30, then Norway at 19.30.

Scotland's team will be Hugh Nibloe, Gary Smith, Austin McKenzie and Jo Butterfield with Alternate Keith Gray. Their first and only game on Saturday is against China at 14.30.